Terrorism

9 years ago

U.S. Knew Mumbai Plotter’s Radical Ties

A new report says the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration employed David C. Headley, who went on to plot the attacks that killed 164 people in Mumbai in 2008, as an informant in Pakistan despite several warnings that he sympathized with radical Islamic groups. It is unclear what Headley was expected to do for the U.S., but the small-time drug dealer began training with terrorists shortly after arriving in Pakistan. An October 2001 warning about his radical leanings was ignored in part because it came from an ex-girlfriend, one of several women to warn the government about him. The government told The New York Times that Headley would have been promptly turned over to the Indian government had there ever been sufficient evidence to confirm the warnings or suggest that he was planning an attack in Mumbai. On Sunday, President Obama briefed Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the government’s investigation of the matter.